Tuesday, November 15, 2011

New York police have dismantled the Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park and arrested about 200 people following a raid in the early hours.

Protesters were ordered to leave at about 01:00 (06:00 GMT), before police began removing tents and property.

The New York camp was set up in September to protest against economic inequality - it inspired similar demonstrations around the world.

It was the latest camp to be cleared by police in US cities in recent days.

Legal challenge

Following Tuesday's eviction, a New York state judge issued an order ruling protesters could return to the park, pending a hearing at 11:30 (16:30 GMT).

But the city's Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the park would remain closed while officials reviewed the legal situation.

In a news conference, Mr Bloomberg said there was a conflict between protecting public health and safety and protesters' First Amendment rights.

"Unfortunately, the park was becoming a place where people came not to protest, but rather to break laws, and in some cases, to harm others," Mr Bloomberg said...

"The First Amendment gives every New Yorker the right to speak out - but it does not give anyone the right to sleep in a park or otherwise take it over to the exclusion of others."

Police in New York gave an announcement as their operation began, telling protesters: "The city has determined that the continued occupation of Zuccotti Park poses an increasing health and fire safety hazard."

Leaflets were handed out telling occupants to "immediately remove all private property" and warning they would be arrested if they interfered with the operation...

The area around the park was sealed off and journalists were prevented from entering. Some of the activists accused police of using excessive force and pepper spray.

Police spokesman Paul Browne said most people left the park when ordered, but that a small group of people had refused.

The 200 or so people arrested included some who had chained themselves together...

The city authorities and Mayor Bloomberg had come under pressure from residents and businesses to shut down the camp, which had about 200 occupants as it neared its two-month anniversary.

There had been plans for a street carnival to descend on Wall Street on Thursday in an attempt to shut it down, to mark the camp's two-month anniversary.

By daylight the camp had been entirely cleared, a step welcomed by some local businesses.

"I support them but we have to work, not do revolution," a juice stall vendor told the AFP news agency. "I don't support revolution or idleness. Idleness is not good for our country."

But activists released a statement saying that while they may have been physically removed, "you can't evict an idea whose time has come"...MORE...LINK-----------------------

Chris Moore comments:

Michael Bloomberg, what a disgusting commissar coward, ordering the police crackdown in the middle of the night to catch protesters by surprise and prevent the media from covering the brutality.

In an earlier life, he must have been a Jewish Bolshevik commissar. Now, like his neocon brethren, he’s morphed into naked Zionist fascism.

According to the New York Times, Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend, Diana L. Taylor, sits on the board of Brookfield Properties, the owner of Zucotti Park...LINK: http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13076 -----------------------------------Financial Giants Put New York City Cops on Their Payroll

The corporations pay an average of $37 an hour (no medical, no pension benefit, no overtime pay) for a member of the NYPD, with gun, handcuffs and the ability to arrest.When the infamously mismanaged Wall Street firm, Lehman Brothers, collapsed on September 15, 2008, its bankruptcy filings in 2009 showed it owed money to 21 members of the NYPD’s Paid Detail Unit. (A phone call and email request to the NYPD for information on which Wall Street firms participate in the program were not responded to. The police unions appear to have only scant information about the program.)Other Wall Street firms that are known to have used the Paid Detail include Goldman Sachs, the World Financial Center complex which houses financial firms, and the New York Stock Exchange.The New York Stock Exchange is the building in front of which the Occupy Wall Street protesters have unsuccessfully tried to protest, being herded behind metal barricades, clubbed with night sticks, kicked in the face and carted off to jail LINK: http://www.truth-out.org/financial-giants-put-new-york-city-cops-their-payroll/1318431123 -----------------------------------Zucotti Park Owners Received Nearly $700,000 In Handouts Since 9/11

The owners of Zuccotti Park - Occupy Wall Street's home base - have pocketed nearly $700,000 in government handouts since the 9/11 terror attacks.LINK:http://tinyurl.com/bsn7e3a

According to the New York Times, Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend, Diana L. Taylor, sits on the board of Brookfield Properties, the owner of Zucotti Park...LINK: http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13076 -----------------------------------Financial Giants Put New York City Cops on Their Payroll

The corporations pay an average of $37 an hour (no medical, no pension benefit, no overtime pay) for a member of the NYPD, with gun, handcuffs and the ability to arrest.When the infamously mismanaged Wall Street firm, Lehman Brothers, collapsed on September 15, 2008, its bankruptcy filings in 2009 showed it owed money to 21 members of the NYPD’s Paid Detail Unit. (A phone call and email request to the NYPD for information on which Wall Street firms participate in the program were not responded to. The police unions appear to have only scant information about the program.)Other Wall Street firms that are known to have used the Paid Detail include Goldman Sachs, the World Financial Center complex which houses financial firms, and the New York Stock Exchange.The New York Stock Exchange is the building in front of which the Occupy Wall Street protesters have unsuccessfully tried to protest, being herded behind metal barricades, clubbed with night sticks, kicked in the face and carted off to jail LINK: http://www.truth-out.org/financial-giants-put-new-york-city-cops-their-payroll/1318431123 -----------------------------------Zucotti Park Owners Received Nearly $700,000 In Handouts Since 9/11

The owners of Zuccotti Park - Occupy Wall Street's home base - have pocketed nearly $700,000 in government handouts since the 9/11 terror attacks.LINK:http://tinyurl.com/bsn7e3a